Estate planning is not the most exciting prospect for many young people. However, if you neglect to create at least a simple estate plan, you risk putting your family in a difficult situation and causing conflict.
No matter how old you are, once you acquire a significant amount of property or assets, you need to start thinking about planning for the benefit of your family. See below for some of the risks of delaying your estate plan.
Intestate succession
According to caring.com, only one-third of Americans have a will or living trust. A large reason for this neglect is that people believe they do not have enough property to draft a will. However, this is primarily a misguided belief. No matter how many assets you own, it gets distributed somehow once you die. According to Florida intestate succession, your assets pass to your spouse first, then your children, then parents and finally siblings.
Higher costs and longer probate
However, your parents and siblings receive a share only if there is no surviving spouse or descendants. So, if you have brothers and sisters who you want to include in your estate plan, they do not get anything if you do not draft a will. In addition to the problems of who receives your assets during intestate succession, your family ends up paying more if you do not have an estate plan. They will likely pay more in taxes and experience an extended probate period.
Leaving your inheritance to the state is a bad idea. If you care about your family and want to minimize conflict after you pass away, start working on your estate plan as soon as possible.